ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE – Pope Francis described on Sunday an "acute and strong" pneumonia that led to his hospitalization last month, but the 86-year-old pontiff said he was determined to keep travelling. Pope Francis (AFP)
"I felt a strong pain at the end of the (March 29) audience," the Pope told reporters aboard his papal plane on his return to Rome from Budapest, where the pontiff made a three-day visit. "I did not lose consciousness but I had a high fever" and the doctor "right away took me to the hospital," he said. He called it an "acute and strong pneumonia, in the lower part of the lung." The Pope spent three nights in the Rome hospital in March before being released on April 1 after being treated with antibiotics. He regularly takes questions from Vatican reporters on the flight home following papal trips. The Argentine pope, who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man, has suffered increasing health issues in recent years, and it was his second stay in hospital since 2021. "The body responded well to the treatment, thank God," added the Pope, who was able to attend services in the Holy Week and Easter following his hospitalization. Asked about his next trips, Pope Francis confirmed his intention to go to Lisbon at the beginning of August for the World Youth Day. "I hope to be able to do it," he said. Following Lisbon are trips scheduled for Marseille and Mongolia. "The program keeps me moving," he joked. The health of Pope Francis, who was made pope in 2013, has been a topic of intense speculation over the past year, while persistent knee pain has forced the octogenarian to use a wheelchair.

Heading home

Before his return home Sunday, Pope Francis delivered his trip's last speech to academics at a Catholic university in Budapest. The trip to the Hungarian capital was his second visit to the country following a brief stopover in 2021. Before that, John Paul II was the first pope to visit Hungary, where 39 percent of the population is Catholic, making trips in 1991 and 1996. The Pope's trip came a month after he spent three nights in hospital for bronchitis. But despite persistent knee pain forcing him to move around in a wheelchair, the Pope has appeared to be in good shape. On Saturday, he met Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony, a staunch Orban opponent. He also met Hilarion, a bishop ousted as head of the Russian church's department for external relations by Russian Orthodox leader and Kremlin-backer Patriarch Kirill.